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28 Oct 2011, 22:01

Hi Paul,

Need your guidance. First a score of 680 (Q 46, V 37, AWA 6) and then one month later got a score of 620 (Q 49, V27). I retook the exam because I wanted to get a higher score on Quants and was targeting overall score of 720+. Unfortunately, during my retake, I did badly in Verbal (even though I felt I was doing well and my preparation and mock tests reflected a score of 40+).

My profile: Female, Indian, Already have an Indian MBA (but have good reasons to pursue global MBA), worked for 4.5 years in Banking in India, Right now am working for a micro business school in Singapore.Target schools: LBS, INSEAD, Oxford, Wharton (Finance and Entrepreneurship focused schools)

Now my questions are:

1. Should I retake? - unlike my case, typically scores go up in retakes. Even though the highest score of two takes has not changed, how this drop will be perceived by schools? 2. At current scores, how does my application look like for my target schools?

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Hi GMATmission:You should definitely retake the GMAT. Although they will consider your highest GMAT score, they will be able to see the history of the tests that you have taken. It will not look very compelling that your latest score of 620 was 60 points lower than your prior score.

Overall, if you take the GMAT three or even four times, the admissions is willing to overlook a few low scores. However, you have to bring something fairly unique to the table in order for them to overlook your propensity for taking the GMAT. I am speaking in general terms, but you want to make sure that you are emphasizing how unique you are as an Indian female applicant. There will be plenty of Indian male applicants, but coming from a traditionally patriarchal educational system, you could make the case that your journey is unique, as an Indian female who ended up in Singapore.

So how does your current score look to your target schools?The bottom line is that you really need to break into the 700 club, and get at least the average of the school. When I say 700 club I mean that your score should be at a minimum the average, and hopefully 20 to 30 points higher than the average. So right now, your score does not look compelling to any of the schools you listed.

Please retake the GMAT. You have about a month to do so without impacting your R2 deadlines.

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04 Nov 2011, 01:14

Hi Paul,I am M/32/India and has 11 years work-ex in education management. Have been handling online education business on my own in the company from the last 6 years. I have been dealing with B2B clients from US, Canada, and the UK. I feel my career is not moving at the pace i want it to be. Either i want to stick with the same industry (but different company) or want to move to consulting. Can you please suggest if 1 year MBA programs will be good for me? If yes, which ones and where? Here are my details

GMAT: 690 (Q50, V32)Education: Production Engg (7.5/10) in 1999. Since then have been working with the same company and have assumed mostly entrepreneurial roles at different stages of my career progression.

I would really appreciate if you can just spare some time to reply to my query.

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05 Nov 2011, 01:54

PaulLanzillotti wrote:

Hi GMATmission:You should definitely retake the GMAT. Although they will consider your highest GMAT score, they will be able to see the history of the tests that you have taken. It will not look very compelling that your latest score of 620 was 60 points lower than your prior score.

Overall, if you take the GMAT three or even four times, the admissions is willing to overlook a few low scores. However, you have to bring something fairly unique to the table in order for them to overlook your propensity for taking the GMAT. I am speaking in general terms, but you want to make sure that you are emphasizing how unique you are as an Indian female applicant. There will be plenty of Indian male applicants, but coming from a traditionally patriarchal educational system, you could make the case that your journey is unique, as an Indian female who ended up in Singapore.

So how does your current score look to your target schools?The bottom line is that you really need to break into the 700 club, and get at least the average of the school. When I say 700 club I mean that your score should be at a minimum the average, and hopefully 20 to 30 points higher than the average. So right now, your score does not look compelling to any of the schools you listed.

Please retake the GMAT. You have about a month to do so without impacting your R2 deadlines.

Respectfully,Paul Lanzillotti

Thanks for your time and advise Paul. I am retaking the exam and hopefully will end up with the desired score.
_________________

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Hi Paul,I am M/32/India and has 11 years work-ex in education management. Have been handling online education business on my own in the company from the last 6 years. I have been dealing with B2B clients from US, Canada, and the UK. I feel my career is not moving at the pace i want it to be. Either i want to stick with the same industry (but different company) or want to move to consulting. Can you please suggest if 1 year MBA programs will be good for me? If yes, which ones and where? Here are my details

GMAT: 690 (Q50, V32)Education: Production Engg (7.5/10) in 1999. Since then have been working with the same company and have assumed mostly entrepreneurial roles at different stages of my career progression.

I would really appreciate if you can just spare some time to reply to my query.

Show Tags

Hi GMATmission:You should definitely retake the GMAT. Although they will consider your highest GMAT score, they will be able to see the history of the tests that you have taken. It will not look very compelling that your latest score of 620 was 60 points lower than your prior score.

Overall, if you take the GMAT three or even four times, the admissions is willing to overlook a few low scores. However, you have to bring something fairly unique to the table in order for them to overlook your propensity for taking the GMAT. I am speaking in general terms, but you want to make sure that you are emphasizing how unique you are as an Indian female applicant. There will be plenty of Indian male applicants, but coming from a traditionally patriarchal educational system, you could make the case that your journey is unique, as an Indian female who ended up in Singapore.

So how does your current score look to your target schools?The bottom line is that you really need to break into the 700 club, and get at least the average of the school. When I say 700 club I mean that your score should be at a minimum the average, and hopefully 20 to 30 points higher than the average. So right now, your score does not look compelling to any of the schools you listed.

Please retake the GMAT. You have about a month to do so without impacting your R2 deadlines.

Respectfully,Paul Lanzillotti

Thanks for your time and advise Paul. I am retaking the exam and hopefully will end up with the desired score.

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29 Nov 2011, 20:40

PaulLanzillotti wrote:

Hi GMATmission:You should definitely retake the GMAT. Although they will consider your highest GMAT score, they will be able to see the history of the tests that you have taken. It will not look very compelling that your latest score of 620 was 60 points lower than your prior score.

Overall, if you take the GMAT three or even four times, the admissions is willing to overlook a few low scores. However, you have to bring something fairly unique to the table in order for them to overlook your propensity for taking the GMAT. I am speaking in general terms, but you want to make sure that you are emphasizing how unique you are as an Indian female applicant. There will be plenty of Indian male applicants, but coming from a traditionally patriarchal educational system, you could make the case that your journey is unique, as an Indian female who ended up in Singapore.

So how does your current score look to your target schools?The bottom line is that you really need to break into the 700 club, and get at least the average of the school. When I say 700 club I mean that your score should be at a minimum the average, and hopefully 20 to 30 points higher than the average. So right now, your score does not look compelling to any of the schools you listed.

Please retake the GMAT. You have about a month to do so without impacting your R2 deadlines.

Respectfully,Paul Lanzillotti

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your kind advice.

I retook the exam and scored a 700 (Q49, V36). Considering the situation now, please comment on my candidature for the following schools:

1. LBS2. INSEAD3. Wharton4. NYU Stern5. Chicago Booth6. Oxford

This is the macro list of schools I am thinking about right now. My focus area is finance. Please feel free to suggest other schools I should consider as well.